Tom Kunich wrote:
>>
>> I don't like to see the fake science and agenda-driven babble at the
>> anti-helmet sites, nor do I like the people that try to tell me how
>> safe I need to be when riding by trying to force me to wear a helmet.
>
> Perhaps you could reference this "fake science and agenda driven
> babble"? Somehow it doesn't seem to bother you that the sites that
> agrandized helmets were all subsidized by helmet companies.
I don't pay attention to those sites either.
>> But I don't feel compelled to lie about helmet effectiveness, both in
>> the case of crash data from ERs (which actually understates the
>> benefits) and from whole population studies. The anti-MHL people do
>> their cause no favor by using the tactics they employ.
>
> Steve, I have absolutely no idea what the heck you're talking about. In
> the first place, I have talked PERSONALLY to ER room doctors who have
> treated head injuries including bicycle head injuries. I have also
> received email from ER room doctors concerning head injuries to cyclists
> with and without helmets.
Your personal experience is not statistically significant. Anecdotal
evidence is no evidence at all. You need to read all the studies
regarding comparative injury and fatality rates for helmeted versus
non-helmeted cyclists, where there was a large sample size, and where it
wasn't just one doctor's patients.
Of course just concentrating on those few cyclists that were in a crash
where a helmet made a significant difference ignores the fact that the
chance of being one of those cyclists is not all that high.
> Here's the problem - most ER room doctors will see 150 head injuries due
> to falls on stairways and the like, 65 injuries from car accidents, 30
> injuries from school sports and 1 head injury from a bicycle fall in a
> year. Perhaps you can explain how this doctor can reach any general
> conclusions pertaining to bicycle head injuries?
He can't. You have to look at the big picture. The studies on helmeted
versus non-helmeted cyclists is based on the statistics from ERs, not
the experience of only one doctor.
In fact, the ER studies understate the benefits because they don't count
all the people that didn't visit the ER because the helmet eliminated
the need to do so.
